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A US congressional committee looking into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has formally written to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, previously Britain’s Prince Andrew, requesting that he submit to an interview as part of its inquiry into Epstein’s illegal activities.

In a letter released on Thursday, a California congressman, the senior Democrat on the House oversight committee, asked that King Charles III’s brother help with its probe.

The official demand to respond to queries comes a week after Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his HRH style and agreed to give up his property in Windsor.

Files and Accusations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears in documents and flight logs secured from Epstein’s estate and disclosed by the committee. He has also been charged by one of Epstein’s survivors, the late Virginia Giuffre, of abuse.

“The panel will examine claims of misconduct by Mountbatten Windsor, and will demand data on Epstein’s network, associates, and associates based on the men’s longstanding and extensively reported friendship,” the committee said in a statement.

It requested information from Mountbatten Windsor on details of his friendship with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York jail cell in 2019. Andrew has always vehemently rejected any misconduct.

Content of the Communication

“It has been widely reported that your association with Mr Epstein started in 1999 and that you continued associating through and after his 2008 guilty verdict for soliciting minors for prostitution,” the letter said.

It added: “It has also been claimed that you traveled with Epstein to his New York residence, the Queen’s estate at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s secluded island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been charged of abusing young girls. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, coupled with the recently revealed 2011 electronic correspondence in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further supports our suspicion that you may have important details about the offenses committed by Mr Epstein and his accomplices.”

A announcement regarding the letter said it was co-signed by 13 other Democrats on the committee and demands a answer by 20 November.

Past Statements and Cooperation

The letter arrives a week after another Democrat on the committee commented: “Andrew should be called to give evidence before the committee. The people has the right to know who was abusing women and minors alongside Epstein.”

However, the representative does not have the authority to subpoena the duke and Congress itself cannot oblige statements from a overseas individual.

In 2020, US officials said that Mountbatten Windsor did not respond to US appeals for an discussion. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that lawyers and the FBI had approached Andrew’s attorneys to follow up on his previous pledge that he was “willing to help any relevant law enforcement agency”.

“It’s fair for people to know whether Prince Andrew has honored with that pledge,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “given absolutely no cooperation”.

Appeals for Accountability

The representative said in a comment that “rich and well-connected men have avoided the law for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the chance to come clean and provide justice for the survivors. Oversight Democrats will not stop fighting for responsibility and openness for those affected of Epstein and his gang of partners.”

Another endorser, a Virginia Democrat, said that after hearing testimony to the committee from Epstein’s victims, as well as public reporting of disclosed papers, “it is vital that Andrew cooperates with the active investigation. If he is blameless, then he can clear his name.”

The lawmaker added: “And if not, our probe will show that, and the victims will receive belated accountability. The Royal Family’s actions stripping Andrew of his titles suggest there is more to this situation.”

The letter was sent on the same day the British king formally stripped Mountbatten Windsor of his princely title. Charles III officially made the change – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “letters patent” which the crown office made public in the Gazette, the UK’s public registry.